Tuesday, 26 December 2017

Sunday, 24 December 2017

Just a quick post to wish all who celebrate a very merry happy Christmas.

Today I'm going to see the new Star wars film with my lovely friend who is up from London for the holidays.
This aft I have cooking and wrapping to do while and singing and dancing badly to cheesy Christmas pop music and quaffing chocs and mulled wine.
I am a proper, happy little Christmas fairy today, I'm so excited.

Thanks to all who follow this blog, support me and enjoy my crochet patterns. You are all so amazing, thank you. I hope you all have a great weekend doing what makes Christmas special for to you.

Its time to celebrate, we made it, half way out of the dark. A new year and spring is on its way :)

Have a photo of Cal doing bunny feet
A very Merry Christmas
lots of love
from Liz
and Cassi and Cal xxxxxx

Tuesday, 21 November 2017

I have finally finished the second Avengers set. Don't they look great.
I am so pleased with how they turned out. This being a pet project, its been put off a few times when real crochet work has come along, its great that I've managed to finish them now.

As ever, I've done all the hard work so that the patterns are really easy to follow and re-create your own little member of the team.
The full set can be found here in my etsy shop

I'm trying not to have favorites but Ant-man was a late addition to the team. I didn't think I could make his helmet look cute or be an easy to follow pattern. I was so wrong. I love how it turned out and you would n't believe how easy it is to make.

If that wasn't enough to convince you to give this pattern a try, then I'll add that you need to eat chocolates to make this. Yep, the eyes are made from the cellophane that wraps the strawberry Quality Streets choc.
Save the other cellophane wraps if you buy a box, I've got plans for the other colours on future dolls :)

Now I can put the first four sets of Marvel character amigurumi patterns together and don't they look amazing.

The patterns are all available here
The more you buy the cheaper they get.
Its £3 for each individual pattern. I have a few duo sets at £5 each and the sets of eight are £15, the full set of thirty-two patterns is just £30. All prices are excluding VAT
You can also use the Five patterns for £10 discount and pick your favorite team.

I have lots more plans for these designs sets coming up. I have a batman set that I'm working on at the moment. After that it'll be Justice league and them Black Panther.
I may also do some sets that are really just me geeking out about stuff I love. I'm tempted to do a Bill and Teds bogus journey set (maybe, possibly, probably...)

I have also released the pattern for my fancy crochet baubles. This is a two pattern pack for £2.50 its a bit of a special offer for a nice Christmas make. Available here

I know I put this on every post now but I really want to thank everyone who has been buying my patterns and leaving such lovely feedback. Every pattern you buy from me make me really giddy. I get a sound like an old fashioned cash register from my phone and I do a little cheer every time. Thank you for making me happy.

In other news I when metal stamping at The York Makery
They do drop in sessions, so me and my friend Ashley- Rae went also to have a go.
You get a short tutorial and full use of all the tools and then you can make what you like.

Its great fun, if a little loud with all that hammering.

It was lovely to do a craft so different from what I usually do. Being a bit wonky in crochet adds to the cuteness but here I kinda need my letter to go in a straight line.
I decided to make something based on the podcast I'm listening too most at the mo My brother, my brother and me.

I loved it and we'll be going back. The York makery are running all sorts of drop in craft sessions in the run up to Christmas so check out their website to find out more. Its a great way to make Christmas presents that are personal and pretty.

Finally I'll finish with a little pic of my Funko pop collection. Current count = 18. This is just the Thor Ragnarok ones. I should add that I have Thor but Santa has taken him and I have to wait for Christmas for him to come home. I also now, have Valkyrie, she arrived after this photo was taken.
I would like to get hold of the final hulk pop, the one without the helmet, but it was a con exclusive so I may never get it. Seeing these together really makes me what to do a Banner amigurumi doll. (That might have wait for the infinity war set )

Bit of a favor before I finish today. My Pinterset is playing up since firefox updated and I can't post pics. If anyone could post the pics from this post for me and tag me, so I can add them to my boards, that would be amazing. Thank you in advance.

Friday, 3 November 2017

The latest issue of Love crochet magazine is out now. I have found my copy in Tesco. I do usually get a copy from the publishers but if I haven't got that yet and I see it, I have to get.

Its a really lovely issue this month. Full of great makes for Christmas.
I have two projects featured and they are both big ones.

Following on from the success they had with my Autumn wreath, I was asked to create a Christmas one. I decided with this one to go for a bit more modern look. So I only covered half the wreath this time. I've used pom-poms to cover the bottom half (how much fun are pom-pom makers, someone was very clever thinking those up). It looks all snowy and white but I did use some glittery yarn so its a bit sparkly too.
The snowmen are very simple to re-create if you have tried any crochet in the round before.
The result is a lovely wreath that looks like it takes forever to make but really can be done in a couple of days.

The next project is a Christmas stocking. I'm so happy with how this worked out. I designed a small stocking a few years ago but never thought of scaling it up. I used a chunky yarn so it actually doesn't take as long as you might think to whip these up.
The reindeer head is slightly stuffed so its not just flat on the stuffing but looks really fun.
I added a big white cuff so that names could be easily added on with felt letters or embroidery.

I can really recommend these as fun and surprisingly quick projects to get you feeling festive. I imagine they would be big hits a festive craft fairs aswell.
Let me know what you are crafting for Christmas in the comments below.

Another fun project for Christmas crafting is my Nativity set. Its now two years since I created this set and the copyright for the pattern has come back to me from the publishers. This means that you can now buy a copy of the pattern from my pattern shop and help support me continue to do the work I love.
I have had such lovely comments from you guys about how much you love this pattern. I do read every comment, every review and every message that I'm send from over all my social media and try and respond to all. It gives me a lovely warm heart to get them, and when you tell me how much you are enjoying following my patterns and creating things you never thought possible. Lots of crochet love to you all xxx

Side bar. I'm having a little difficulty typing at the moment. Cassi seems to think my hand is her cushion and that writing a blog post should not be my main concern at the moment. If I do move my hand she looks up and me and squeaks. I'm trying just to use my fingers and my left hand so I don't disturb her. Honestly who'd have cats :)

While we are still on Christmas projects. I have some of my lovely crochet baubles still available in my Etsy shop (clink link). These are so pretty and colourful. I have made everyone of them and they are all unique. I don't think they'll last long once people start thinking properly about Christmas. I'm giving those who read my blog the heads up, to get in there first if you want some.
I will try and get some more made over the next few weeks as I really love making them. However, I've signed up for a chunk of crochet work for some books (I can say no more but its making my very smiley), I'm gonna be busy, so it may not be possible.

Right lets forget about Christmas for a while and talk about the most exciting event at the moment. Guys... Thor Ragnarok is finally out :)
I have been so excited about this film since I saw the trailer nearly a year ago. I love the marvel films and I knew this was gonna be a good one.

So I took myself here on opening day. It was a very wet afternoon but it seemed perfect for a trip to the cinema. I had a great time. The film is amazing and you don't have to be a massive geek like me to enjoy it. It fab, its fun, its beautiful.. I love it.

Of course I was going to make a set of my character dolls for the movie.
I've talked before about how much I love this doll design. It is so great to customize to make into the different characters. I planned to make a set of the main four characters but after seeing the film and loving it so much I had to make a full set of eight.

The full set is available from my etsy pattern shop (click link) and for a limited time it also comes with the Doctor Strange pattern. If you've seen the film or the trailer you'll understand why :)

This set was a joy to create. Although I did have moments of stupidity. Heimdall the character in the photo below has gold eyes. I don't want to admit how long it took me to work out how to make this work. I Finally came up with an idea, I knew I has some white paint and I though I could get them white, then colour them in with my artist markers.
It was only when I looked in my box of paints and I...have...gold....paint :/ I felt very silly.

Korg is one of the charterers that steals evry scene he's in, in the film. It was mainly wanting to create a doll of him that pushed me into making a full set of eight. He's a stone warrior so I wanted the texture of his head to look different. My mind drifted off on an idea how to do this while I was watching the film and I missed a critical moment of the plot. It was worth it though, this guy looks just great. I'll be going to see the film again soon so I'll see anything I missed.

I am going to be working on more of these sets. I have the second avengers set, Justice league and Batman coming up. The best place to keep up to date if you are interested is on my Instagram - I'm lizwardcrochet (click link) you can follow me on there if you click the link. Its where I post the most often now, so you can keep up to date and join in the fun.

I also share more of my geeky side on Instagram, including my steadily growing collection of geekery, collectable figurines and Funko pops.
I have a long shelf and many fandoms I follow. Collecting these is great fun.

Finally I have had a little change of craft. I've been asked to design a knitting pattern. Not something I do very often but I practically bit their hand off when I found out it would be creating something with this wonderful super-super chunky yarn.
The balls of yarn are huge. Cassi thought all her Christmas's had come at once.

The massive knitting needle needed provide you with a full body exercise
as you knit. I honestly felt like a borrower as I was knitting with
this yarn. I'm a tall lass so I do enjoy feeling small every now and
then, this was some much fun.
Those who know how much I love to play with scale in my crochet work will already know how much this'll appeal to me .Its really very additive once you get started. The finished look of the knit is stunning and its so soft and warm and everything good.
I've order some more of the yarn to have more of a play with.

So that was October.
Thanks again to everyone who reads this blog and supports my little crafty business.
Its only cause of you buying my patterns, commenting and sharing my photos that I can keep doing what I love everyday.